Posted By Lynn Worthy, Sun Staff
Doc Rivers won’t be letting the Atlanta Hawks off the hook because they are the eighth seed.
The Celtics are heavy favorites in tonight’s opening game of the best-of-seven first round Eastern Conference playoff series at the TD Banknorth Garden. Still, the Celtics head coach isn’t buying into the theory that Atlanta has nothing to lose.
“Yeah they do,” Rivers says of the Hawks. “They have the series to lose. They have the same thing to lose that we do. I love when people say they have nothing to lose. That’s a bunch of (crap). They have just as much to lose as we do. If they lose this series, they’re going to really be disappointed. If we lose this series, we’re going to be really disappointed.”
Rivers speak from experience. He coached the Orlando Magic in 2002-03 when the eighth-seeded Magic lost a seven-game series to the top seed Detroit Piston after taking a 3-1 series lead.
This year, the Celtics not only bring the NBA’s best record into the series (66-16), but they’ve also beaten the Hawks in each of the three games between the teams this season.
The Boston reserves put came through in the most recent game on April 12, in Atlanta. The Celtics won 98-88. Sam Cassell led the bench brigade with 20 points (15 fourth-quarter points), and Glen Davis had a game-high 10 rebounds. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen each played 30 minutes of less in the game.
The Hawks could have clinched a playoff berth at the time with a win.
Boston also holds the edge in playoff experience. Ten Celtics have prior playoff experience (eleven if you count the injured Scot Pollard). Atlanta guards Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson, a former Celtics draft pick, are the only active players for the Hawks who‘ve played in the postseason.
That hasn’t stopped some of the younger Hawks from expressing confidence about the series.
“We feel like it's a great matchup for us," Josh Childress told the Atlanta Journal Constitution this week. "I don't think there's any position where you can say we are severely undermanned against them. We don't feel like it's a situation where you can say it won't be a competitive series, because we've played and played well against some of the best teams in the league."